Textbooks donated to orphaned African youngsters

A batch of Science and Maths textbooks have been donated to charity to support the education of poverty-stricken African youngsters.

Dozens of books which have been become out of date due to recent changes to GCSE specifications were handed over to the Penny Appeal charity, which Highfields’ Teaching Assistant, Mr A Hasib has links with.

The books have been distributed through the charity’s Gambia office to the Chow School of Excellence.

The school has 309 students, the majority of which are orphans that are under the custodianship of Penny Appeal and its donors.

Charity spokesman, Mr Nazim Ali Tasadiq, said: “Since its inception, the school has been faced with problem of inadequate availability of both teaching and learning materials such as textbooks.

“The subject areas most affected are Mathematics and Science, which can lead to poor performances of students in these subject areas.

“Learning is a multifaceted activity that puts students’ motivation and physical condition to the test. Effective learning cannot take place in an school environment where teaching and learning materials are grossly inadequate.

“The majority of the students are from very poor families who would typically have very little access to a relevant and quality education. As a result, their chances of transiting to higher levels of education in the future can be jeopardised attributed to this problem if it is not addressed. Many of them may drop out of the educational system thus becoming liabilities for their families and country at large.

“Considering this context, it shows the importance of the distribution of the books that have been donated. We are hopeful the books will increase the level of performance of the students now that they will have adequate resources.”

Penny Appeal is an Islamic charity that helps a number of causes throughout the world, including feeding people in more than 30 crisis-hit countries, providing emergency response to war and natural disasters, and providing safe, clean drinking water to the world’s poorest people.